Screw-driving machine.



No. 7l0,675. Patented Oct. 7, 1902.

E. FINN.

SCREW DRIVING MACHINE.

(Application filed. Nov. 15, 1901.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet L la er/ 587";

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No. 710,676. Patented Oct. 7, I902.

E. FINN.

SCREW DRIVING MACHINE.

(Application filed Nov. 15, 1901.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

IIIIIINIIIIIIII UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN FINN, OF ELKHART, INDIANA.

SCREW-DRIVING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 710,676, dated October '7, 1902.

Application filed November 15, 1901. Serial No. 82.400. (NomodeL) My invention relates particularly to screw holders for screw-driving machines; and my primary object is to provide an effective device for machines of this character which will serve to hold the screws during the operation of driving the same.

My invention is particularly adapted to machines of the character described in Letters Patent No. 587,441, granted to me December 6, 1892, assuming the machine in said patent to be equipped with screw-drivers instead of boring-tools.

Myinvention is illustrated in its preferred form in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a fragmental view, in front elevation, of a screw-driving machine equipped with an improved screw-holder; Fig. 2, an enlarged broken sectional view taken as indicated at line 20f Fig. 1; Fig. 3 a side View of the detached screw-holder; Fig. 4, a sectional view of the same, the section being taken parallel to the side exhibited in Fig. 3; and Fig. 5, a sectional view taken as indicated at line 5 of Fig. 2 and showing how the individual tool-stocks are adjusted on the slotted cross-bar with which they are connected.

The general construction of the machine is described in the abovementioned patent, and only such a description of the same is given in the present application as is necessary to an understanding of the present invention.

A A represent side frames of the machine; B B, forwardly-projecting guides with which said side frames are provided; 0, a slotted cross-bar of the construction described in said patent and which serves to receive a certain member of each of a series of tool-stocks; D, a series of verticalspindles constituting portions of the tool-stocks; E, a series of vertically-disposed journals adjustably connected with the bar 0; F, a transverse shaft from which motion is transmitted, through members F F, to the spindles D in substantially the manner described in said patent; G, a vertically-movable work holder or table constructed and operating as described in said patent, and H a series of screw-holders of novel construction.

The sleeves or bearings E pass through blocks a, which fit into the slot of the bar 0 and have front and rear flanges ct a which bear upon the horizontal surfaces of said bar. The sleeves are equipped with nuts ed, by means of which the blocks a are clamped to the bar at any desired position. Thus it will be seen that the sleeves E may be adjusted vertically as desired and also may be adjusted transversely of the machine.

vEach screw-holder H comprises a body portion b, an offset shank b, and a detachable screw-receiver o The part Z) has a vertical perforation b and an intersecting inclined perforation b. The part b has at its upper end a flange 19 provided with a right-hand thread which screws into a threaded socket at the base of the body portion 1). The part b is provided with a vertical channel or perforation 17 which registers with and forms a continuation of the perforation b Said part b is provided at its base with vertical slots 5 through which project springs b depending from the upper portion of the part 19 where they are secured by means of screws b. The lower ends of the springs 19 are inclined, as shown in Fig. 4, and the lower end of the slotted receiver or part b is equipped with a ring 6 which houses the lower ends of the springs and serves to strengthen the lower end of said receiver W. The holder is supported, through the medium of the shank b, by a vertical strap or rod Z1 which is rigidly secured to the shank b and is at its upper end provided with a vertical slot 1) through which passes a bolt b, serving to connect said strap with a block a.

In operation the screws are introduced into the receiver b through the channel I) and are supported by the inclined lower ends of the springs 19 in proper position to be engaged by the screw-drivers,..which enter the perforations 5 Assuming that a screw has been deposited in each receiver by an attendant, the operation of the machine is such that the platform or Work-support G is lifted by cams in the manner described in said patent till the work engages the lower ends of the receivers b whereupon as the work continues to rise the screw-holders are pressed upwardly, While the screws are rotated by the screw-drivers and caused to enter the approaching work. In a manner now well understood the cams for raising the table G bear a certain relation to the pitch of the threads of the screws and to the rate of rotation of the spindles which are being used, so that the work is caused to approach the screws at such a rate of speed as to prevent unnecessary injury to the grain of the wood. The necessary vertical movement of the holders is permitted by the slotted connection with the bolt 1), and it will be understood that as the holders move upwardly the screws spread the lower ends of the springs 6 till the screws are permitted to be driven into the work the full length. Should one of the screw-drivers become connected with a receiver 6 as by the introduction of a second screw by a careless attendant, the eifect is to cause the receiver to rotate with the screw-driver and become disconnected from the upper portion of the holder. This action is permitted by the right-hand screw connection between the receiver and the part from which it depends,it being understood that the screw-drivers are given a right-hand rotation. Inasmuch as the su pporting straps or rods b are connected with the adjustable blocks a, the holders are always in proper position to receive the screwdrivers.

A machine of the character described equipped with myimproved screw-holding device is well adapted to the work of driving the screws in buggy-boxes and to similar work, and it will be understood that the machine itself may be equipped with any desired number of rows of screw-drivers, with any desired number of individuals in a row.

Changes in details of construction within the spirit of my invention may be made. Hence no undue limitation is to be understood from the foregoing detailed description.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a screw-driving machine, a reciprocable transversely-adjustable screw-receiver provided with scre w-engaging means, in combination witha transversely-adj ustable rotary screw-driver and a reciprocating work-holder which serves to move said screw holder through the medium of the work, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a screw-driving machine, the combination of a rotary screw-driver, a screw-re ceiver provided with screw-engaging means, means for simultaneously adjusting said screw-driver and screw-holder transversely of the machine, and a reciprocating workholder serving to raise said screw-holder as the work is moved toward the screw-driver, for the purpose set forth.

3. In a machine of the character described,

a screw-holder comprising, in combination, a reciprocable supporting member provided with a screw-driver-receiving channel and an intersecting feed -channel, a rotary screwdriver, and a detatchable screw-receiver having screw connection with said supporting member and equipped with yielding screwengaging prongs, said screw connection serving to permit unturning through the medium of the screw driver, substantially as described.

4. In a machine of the character described, a screw-holder comprising, in combination, a supporting member, and a screw-receiver depending therefrom and having right-hand screw connection with said supporting member, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. In a machine of the character described, having a rotary spindle and suitable driving means, the combination of an adjustable sleeve or bearing for said spindle and ascrewholder supported from said bearing andadj ustable therewith,substantially as described.

6. In a machine of the character described, a screw-holder comprising a normally depressed body provided with a vertical screwdriver-receiving passage and an intersecting feed channel, an ofiset reciprocable stem through the medium of which said body is supported, and ascrew-receiver provided with yielding screw-engaging prongs, in combination With a rotary screw-driver and a reciprocating work-holder which elevates the screwholder while feeding the work toward the screw-driver, substantially as described.

7. In a screw-driving machine, the combination of a suitable frame, a rotary spindle, an adjustable bearing for said spindle, a screw-holder supported from said bearing and adjustable therewith and movable longitudinally of the bearing, and a reciprocating work-holder, for the purpose set forth.

EDWIN FINN.

In presence of- A. O. KI'ITLESON, ALBERT D. BAOCI. 

